Valerie Hammond is an American artist who creates works of sensual botanical, gothic, and corporeal imagery. “I have always been drawn to places and objects that are full of mystery,” she says. She is fascinated by stories which blur reality; her work plays with the dichotomy between what is seen and the sensation it provokes. Hammond’s two Tamarind prints showcase her drawing skills and use of color. In one, a small bird nestles in the center of a flower, and in the other, a bat hovers above a gentle tangle of single stem flowers.
Hammond received her MFA from the University of California at Berkeley, where she was awarded the Eisner Award. Her work is included in public and private collections such as the Walker Art Center; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; The Library of Congress; the New York Public Library’s Print and Drawing Collection; The Getty Museum; the Progressive Collection; the Chazen Museum of Art; Madison Museum of Contemporary Art; the Grand Palais Museum; and Fidelity Investments Corporate Art Collection. Hammond is the recipient of awards and fellowships from the New York Foundation of the Arts, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and the Peter S. Reed Foundation.